The Lottery
by Mii-Chan 24
Summary: AU, slightly OOC Certain small towns have traditions, right? How bad can one little lottery be? Based on story by Shirley Jackson


**The Lottery**

**By Amaya 24**

**A/N: We had to read the short story 'The Lottery' for Reading. So of course I had to write a fic about it. It's choppy, but this was pretty hard to write it. So yeah. This is **_**based **_**on The Lottery, so it doesn't really follow the story exactly. Meaning only the basic plot is the same. Oh well.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Full Metal Alchemist or The Lottery. If anyone actually wants to read 'The Lottery', the author is Shirley Jackson.**

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Edward sat in the living room, deep in thought, his stomach twisting nervously. He'd been up since seven, methodically doing all of his chores for the day even though the brothers usually began working later in the day. After he finished both his and his brother's chores, though, there was nothing left to do but worry. He knew he shouldn't, but he couldn't help it. Ever since he'd become the head of the Elric household, he'd had to replace his father and mother in both the daily chores around the house and other occasions, like today...

He glanced up again, rechecking the date on the calendar that was tacked up on the wall-- June 27th-- circled in red. The brothers always marked the date, every year, to make sure they never forgot. Of course, they never forgot anyways. It was nearly impossible to.

Ed jumped when his younger brother, his bronze hair standing up on end, sat heavily next to him.

"Brother?" He asked, his eyes dark with worry. Ed waved his concern away, smiling uneasily. _It's just a normal day, It's just a normal day,_ he kept chanting in his mind.

"Hey Al. Didn't hear you wake up. Want breakfast?" He asked, standing up and heading towards the kitchen, looking back. Alphonse shook his head, eyes unfocused.

"Nah. Just in case..." He muttered, looking up fearfully at the circled date. Ed frowned, his brow furrowed.

"Don't talk like that, Al," He said quietly, anger rolling from his slim frame. "Nothing is going to happen. _Nothing_, understand? Besides, it's tradition. Everyone else is doing it too."

Al snorted, an action that was totally out of character for him. Normally, Ed would have reprimanded him; as he usually said, they only needed one sarcastic Elric in the family. But today it was okay.

Sighing heavily, Ed glanced out the kitchen window, watching as the younger children went around collecting rocks and stacking them in little piles. He even managed to see little Elysia Hughes, wearing a pink dress, protecting a quickly growing pile of rocks from a group of boys. He turned away from the window, feeling nauseous.

Inhaling deeply, he turned to look at his brother.

"Listen Al," He whispered, as if honestly expecting someone to hear them. "It's just an ordinary day. We've been through this before; we can get through another one." Al nodded solemnly, his eyes clouded.

"I've heard rumors, you know," He muttered, running a hand through his disheveled hair. Ed walked closer, listening intently. Al continued, looking grim. "They're saying that they've started getting rid of the Lottery in other towns. I heard the men talking about it. Havoc said that his brother lived in Xenotime, and that they'd stopped doing it there."

"You know they'll never do that here." Ed answered, the hope that had suddenly bubbled in his chest bursting quickly. "The old folks are so attached this thing it'd be nearly impossible trying to convince them to do otherwise. Remember when we tried to get them to make a new box?" Al's eyes focused, staring into Ed's own golden eyes.

"So?" He challenged, making sure to keep his voice pitched low; who knew who could be listening in? "We could move, get out of here and live with someone else. Teacher said that she lived in Dublith with Sid and their son. Why can't we go with them? Why do we have to stay here and---" By this time, Al's words had reached shouting volume. Looking guilty, he snapped his mouth shut, glancing at the door wearily.

Not a moment later, someone knocked on the Elric's door. Shooting Al an annoyed look, Ed walked forward, opening the door slightly. A worried looking Winry Rockbell stood at the doorway, smiling uneasily.

"Are you guys okay?" She asked, hesitating on their doorstep. Ed grinned at her, moving aside to let her enter, kissing her cheek as she stepped in the room.

"Sure, Win. We were just getting ready to go. Um, are you coming with us?" He asked, glancing around the room, trying to seem nonchalant and failing miserably. Winry nodded, ignoring the tense atmosphere.

"Granny was wondering if you two wanted to come over for lunch. That is, if you can," She said hurriedly, watching as two little boys ran across the street down to the center of the village. Ed nodded enthusiastically, a pit forming in his stomach.

"Yeah, that'd be great!" He said, his cheerful tone obviously forced. He glanced at the clock quickly. The face said 9:45.

"You know, if we want to get there in time, we should hurry," Al said monotonously, playing his part reluctantly. Winry nodded again, jumping nervously as shouts from the younger children reached their ears.

With a quick 'See you soon!' she returned Ed's kiss and left, leaving the boys to stare after her. As soon as she was out of earshot, Al moaned, letting his head fall in his hands. Ed looked down, feeling sick.

"Come on, Al. We should go. We don't want to be late." He murmured, walking out the still-open door. Al stood up and followed, his hair on end.

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Feet pounding loudly, the Elric brothers rushed towards the town square, huffing loudly. Despite having left early, both boys had been delayed, only narrowly making it to the meeting in time. A few of the villagers turned to talk to them as they rushed in, joking good-naturedly.

"About time you guys got here," Maes Hughes chuckled, holding his wife Gracia close and moving aside to let the brothers pass. Ed gave Hughes an annoyed grin, and walked forward, shoving a few people out of the way while leaving Al behind to mutter small 'sorry's after his wake.

"We were starting to wonder if you were even gonna show, Chief," Jean Havoc said with a crooked smile as Ed shoved by him, blowing out a stream of cigarette smoke. Beside him, his girlfriend tried to whack the offending cigarette away from his hands.

"Yeah. Mustang just started role-call, so you haven't missed anything," A bored Heymans Breda muttered, heaving a long-suffering sigh. Ahead, in the center of the circle, Roy Mustang cleared his throat, getting everyone's attention. Content, he turned back to the list in his hand. Beside him, Tim Marcoh held a black box in his arms, looking like he'd rather be somewhere else.

"Let's see, where was I?" Mustang drawled, flipping through the sheaf of papers. Finding his spot, he continued.

"Archer?" He muttered, glancing around the crowd. A sullen-looking man walked forward, then stepped back in his spot. Mustang grimaced, but kept going.

"Armstrong?" He called out, and grinned when the big man raised his hand.

"Bradley... Breda... Brosh... Dante..."

Ed couldn't help it; he spaced off. He knew everyone and everyone knew him. He knew that old widow Dante would draw for herself, that Halling was injured and his wife would draw for the family, and that everyone else either had a head of family or someone to replace them in the drawing.

"Elric..." No answer.

"Elric!" Al shoved Ed hard enough for the blond to jolt back to reality. Sheepishly, he raised his hand. Mustang shot him an annoyed look.

"Heads of houses first, Ed. Then individual family members," Mustang recited, glancing at the blond. Ed's eyes narrowed. Of course Mustang knew of their situation; he knew that Ed was the oldest Elric left. But the smug bastard had to announce it to everyone anyways.

"I _am_ the head of the family, Mustang," He growled. He was officially eighteen and the boys had no father or mother to represent them, so technically, if the parents were gone, the job of drawing would fall onto the oldest son.

Mustang nodded, ticking something off on his paper and continuing down the list.

"Falman." A tall man waved half-heartedly at the dark-haired man.

"Fuery." The short man looked up, looking embarrassed.

"Grand." Mustang and Grand exchanged a dark glare. Coughing into his sleeve, Mustang continued down the list.

"Hakuro?" A stern looking man walked forward, his wife and two children staring ahead stoically.

"Halling..." A mousy-looking woman raised her hand, holding her ten-year-old son close.

"Hawkeye..." Mustang called, smiling at his girlfriend.

"Havoc."

Ed ignored the rest of the names, looking up when Winry's name was called only to give her a reassuring smile. After the last name, "Yoki", was called, and everyone was accounted for, the true lottery began. This was the part that irritated Ed the most; all of the heads of houses had to walk up to the black box that Marcoh was holding and take a piece of paper from it.

When his name was called, he stalked forward, ignoring the mounting tension in the air. Snatching the first piece of paper his fingers touched, he pulled his hand out, shuffling hurriedly back to his spot, looking everywhere but his clenched hand. Again they went through the list, until at last an irritating man named Yoki had taken his turn.

At this time, Mustang grinned at everybody, holding his own crumpled paper in his fist.

"Alright! Open them up!"

The sounds of tons of little papers opening were all that prevailed in the small square. Then the others, the rest of the family members, began asking frantically "Who's got it?" "Who is it?" "Who won?"

Then the whispers changed. "It's Elric. It's Edward. He's got it..."

Sickened, Edward unfurled his own crumpled piece of paper, his stomach churning painfully as he regarded the black dot on the paper. Suddenly, a cry went up in the back. Astonished, people moved aside to let Winry and her grandmother pass, Winry supporting the old lady.

"Wait! This isn't fair! He didn't get a fair shot!" She cried, marching determinedly towards Mustang. He glanced at her coolly.

"Everyone had a fair chance, Winry. It could have been anyone." He stated, his hand already reaching for another list. Winry fumed silently.

"Well, what about me?" She demanded, making Mustang pause.

"What _about _you?" The man asked, confused. Winry's face broke into a sardonic grin.

"Ed and Winry are going to be married soon. So does that mean that she draws with me, or with Edward?" Old Granny Pinako asked, beating Winry to the punch. Mustang considered it for a second before turning to Marcoh for help. The older man sighed.

"Well, if the girl were already married with Ed, she would draw with the husband's family. But since they aren't officially married..." He trailed off, looking around at the confused faces surrounding them. Eventually, Russell Tringham spoke up.

"If she really wants to draw with him, does it matter?" He asked, his usually mocking smirk gone as he stared at the stunned Elrics. "It's just one more paper. One more chance that she might win, instead of the fifty-fifty shot." He rationalized, looking solemn. Something in his words made Edward snap out of his stupor.

"Wait! She can't-- Winry, you can't do this!" He snapped, looking at his brother for support. The younger brother nodded, looking scared. Winry swiveled to glare at the offending blond, making him jump.

"Why not?" She demanded, getting right up to the blonde's face. Edward faltered, glancing at Mustang, then at his brother again.

"B-because..." He stuttered, backing away from his enraged fiancée. Satisfied that she wasn't going to get a reply, Winry turned to an amused Mustang.

"I might as well be part of Ed's family; why shouldn't I draw?" She demanded, glaring at all of the other villagers to dare say something. Sighing, Mustang shrugged.

"Sure, if you want."

"Winry..."

"Shut up, Ed."

With a resigned groan, Edward walked back to his spot, Winry following behind. Running a hand through his black hair, Roy glanced at Marcoh, who nodded at him to continue.

"Well, Ed, is it true?" He asked, turning to look at the blond. Feeling sick, the boy pulled out the strip of paper that was crumpled in his hand. Inhaling sharply, he shoved the small piece of paper at the older man.

"All right then. How many in the family?" Roy asked. It was his duty to ask all of the necessary questions even if he knew the answers to them already.

"Three. Al, Winry, and me." He declared boldly. Small whispers erupted through the crowd, until Mustang shot them a warning look. He nodded at Marcoh, who had dumped out the remaining pieces of paper from the black box and replaced them with three other pieces, one of which had a black dot marked in the center.

Gulping loudly, Edward walked forward, again picking the first strip of paper his hand touched. He hoped he wouldn't get the winning paper, but he also hoped that Al and Winry wouldn't get it either.

Walking forward with her head held high, Winry walked up to the box, glared at Mustang, and picked out the second piece of paper. She stalked back to her best friends, trying hard not to cry. Frankly, she was terrified, but Ed and Al were her best friends before she became Ed's fiancée. If they were gone-- well, it was bad enough after her parent's left, winners of a previous Lottery, then a few years later when the same thing happened to Ed and Al's parents. If something happened to either boy, she wasn't quite sure _what_ she would do. Sure, Granny would keep her company, but she was getting old; it was only a matter of time for her to leave Winry as well.

Sighing wearily and biting back tears, Al picked up the last piece of paper from the box, his hand shaking as he clutched the crumpled thing.

"Open them."

Relief flooded Ed as he glanced at the blank paper in his hands. Granted, it was soggy with sweat, but it was still blank. Then panic rushed back in as he glanced at his little brother and best friend. Both were staring at their papers in shock, their hands trembling.

"Well?" Mustang demanded after their had silence stretched out for a few seconds, feeling impatient. Ed took the papers from both of them, feeling faint. The black dot was stark against the white paper in his left hand. _Winry's paper. _

"Win..." Ed muttered weakly, before his best friend, his girlfriend and soon-to-be-wife, launched herself at him, sobbing loudly. Behind her, Al took back his own paper, mercifully blank, relief and panic blending into one. The crowd behind them began murmuring, a couple making moves towards the piles of stones the children had collected beforehand.

"Come on, Winry." Mustang said, holding out his hand at the distraught girl. She shook her head, latching onto Ed even more tightly. Annoyed, Mustang wrenched her out of Ed's grasp, pulling the girl towards the cleared center of the circle. Ed reached out a hand towards her, but felt someone grasp his shoulder. Denny Brosh, a good friend of the Elrics, shook his head, glancing at the scene unfolding in front of them with a dull expression on his face.

"There's nothing you can do," He whispered quietly, flinching as Winry screamed out Edward's name. Ed nodded, looking as the girl was forced to stand in the middle of the town square, crying out for pity at a town that had none.

Maes Hughes watched, smiling, as his little girl picked up the biggest rock in her pile, tottering towards the blond girl. Havoc took in a long drag of cigarette before throwing it on the ground, taking the stone his girlfriend handed him in one hand, weighing it carefully.

"Come on! Hurry!" Shouted Paninya, Winry's best girl friend, at Sheska, skipping forward anxiously with rocks clenched in both her fist. The bespectacled girl behind her sighed tiredly.

"I'll catch up later," She moaned, holding a big stone in her arms and making her way to the blond slowly.

"No! Stop! Please! This isn't fair! " Winry shouted, crying out as a small stone hit her forehead. She turned to her friends, her family, only seeing a few distressed faces among many enthusiastic ones. She yelped as a bigger stone slammed into her leg.

"Please! It wasn't fair! You can't do this! _No! STOP!!!!_"

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Heh, yeah. It's pretty bad, and confusing, but the story really does end like that. Totally and completely AU, definitely OOC, but hey, you gotta change some things to make 'em work, right? Believe me, I realize this is total crap, but I needed to get this out of my system. Thank you for reading!

Oh, and if anyone's reading this that's also reading 'Going Under', I haven't stopped it; I just can't find my book. But trust me, I'm getting there!

Amaya


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